QUICK SPARK: Intel Stock Drops 28%, Eyes Worst Day Since July 1974
Piero Cingari 22 hours ago
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Intel sank 29%, on pace for its worst day since July 1974, as Bank of America's Vivek Arya cut it to Neutral with a $100 target.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is having its worst day in more than half a century.
Shares fell 29.1% to $65.25 in Friday morning trading, on track for the steepest one-day drop since July 1974. That would top the 26% slide in August 2024, previously the stock’s worst session in five decades.
Chart: Intel Corp. daily price change since 1973. Source: TradingView
The chipmaker beat third-quarter estimates. However, it guided fourth-quarter revenue to about $15.5 billion and adjusted earnings to 25 cents a share. Wall Street had expected roughly $17 billion and 43 cents.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya downgraded Intel to Neutral from Buy and cut his price objective to $100 from $145. He said Intel’s “agentic tide” in data center chips is “more than offset by PC/supply headwinds.”
Arya expects PC shipments to drop 25% to 30% from the prior quarter in the fourth quarter, with more inventory correction in the first half of 2027. He also said Intel has not shown enough traction with external foundry customers. As a result, he cut his 2027 earnings estimate by 16% to $1.69 a share.
He was not alone. According to Benzinga Analyst Ratings, Seaport Global and Roth Capital also cut Intel to Neutral on Friday, while seven firms lowered their price targets. KGI Securities went the other way, upgrading the stock to Outperform.
| Date | Firm | Price Target | Action | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 30, 2026 | B of A Securities | $145 → $100 | Downgrade | Buy → Neutral |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Roth Capital | $120 → $70 | Downgrade | Buy → Neutral |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Seaport Global | — | Downgrade | Buy → Neutral |
| Oct 30, 2026 | KGI Securities | $95 | Upgrade | Neutral → Outperform |
| Oct 30, 2026 | StoneX | $140 → $100 | Maintains | Buy |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Susquehanna | $105 → $75 | Maintains | Neutral |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Cantor Fitzgerald | $125 → $90 | Maintains | Neutral |
| Oct 30, 2026 | KeyBanc | $155 → $140 | Maintains | Overweight |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Evercore ISI Group | $133 → $131 | Maintains | Outperform |
| Oct 30, 2026 | Needham | — | Maintains | Hold |
The selloff spread across chipmakers. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) fell 5.9%, while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) slid 9.3%. Arya flagged the PC slump as a headwind for AMD, which reports next week.
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